OT- whacky thyroid vs ADHD | Arthritis Information

I think I caught everyone up on the fact that my son had side effects he called the doctor about when on the strattera. (Nausea, felt funny, felt like he would pass out once, insomnia). So the doctor said discontinue it and call him on Monday (today) and he would have something figured out.

Meanwhile today he gets a call from his GP saying yes his thyroid is out of whack and he's putting him on medicine. (Of course son doesn't know what is being called in) Neurologist calls and says he is putting him on "something like" Ritalin.

I told him to call both of them back with specific drug names and also ask if the hypothyroid is mimiciking ADHD.

Now all you mom's of young adults know it's iffy if he's going to listen to me.

I thought I read that hypothroid mimics ADHD. Anyone else ever read that?

I also asked him to have his blood results faxed home because the time before this repeat of thyroid levels- his were lower than mine. His GP is putting him on meds and my GP who is his wife is not putting me on any....

have him contact both his doctors and give them authorization to speak w/ you about this.. then you can help him make the best decisions..

good luck..

That sounds like a very good idea Babs except....he is the type who likes to be his own man and I don't like to step on his toes. Hopefully he'll follow through with my suggestions and keep me in the loop. When I overstep his boundaries- he cuts me off.ooh.. okay..

I have one son like that.. and the other will go along w/ my suggestions..

well.. I hope he does well for himself then.........

yeah....I mean it's OK because he should learn to do things on his own. It's when they have to learn by making their own mistakes that kills you as a parent!

I think he's pretty concerned about himself so I think he'll do the right thing.

I hope honey.. I hope!!Wantobe-What was your son's last TSH?Ah Ha! The perks of having your adult kid on your insurance policy. I see on the website the GP called in Levothyoroxin- only 25 MCG- that doesn't sound like much...any thyroid med takers out there know?
Also the GP left a message for him on our house phone that there should be no problem with him taking this and something for ADHD. It was the receptionist actually and she was not specfic with drug names.
Anyway- when the other doctor calls in his I will at least have the name and research to see if there are any conflicts.
Wantobe-I'm on 137 mcg levoxyl. And I might have to go to the next highest dose soon. You're correct that it's not much of a dose. I started at 50 mcg.

Did you see my question above?

I started on 50 mcg too. I'm on 88 now. I didn't see it La- we were posting at the same time. I didn't see his last results yet but the one that prompted the retest was 4.33. The test was called TSH, 3rd Generation w/reflex to FT4 WTB,

I see that TheLa has already logged out so I thought I'd respond that the 4.33 is high based on the new ranges set by the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists. The new range is .3 to 3. A lot of docs still go by the old range which isn't good. My GP goes by the new range and also believes that most feel better when the range is around 2 or a little less. I know I feel better in that range.

I should also mention that when I first started on meds, that my GP tested me once a month for a few months to monitor for dosage adjustments. They should be doing that for your son as well.kweenb- mine was 4.95 and my doctor didn't put me on anything. My doctor is my son's doctor's wife. Doesn't that go to show you how doctors can differ on opinions?
Does 25 mcg sound low? I looked up the drug and low and behold it showed a dose pack of 25 mcg.

They do disagree, but you'd think the husband and wife would be more likely to agree, wouldn't you?

Yes, the 25 mcg sounds low to me, but the doc may just be erring on the side of caution. If they are testing again in a month, they'll know if an adjustment is needed.

If I were you, I'd question your doc about the new reference ranges, especially since you are having symptoms.

Hey Wannabe, typically doctors start low on the dosage and keep tweaking it til they get it right. For me it took about 5 months before I reached the level (175 mcg.) that I am at now.

Hey-I'm back. I don't think that dosage is low because he is very mildly hypothyroid. Mine was 13 point something when I was diagnosed...pretty bad. That's why they started me on 50 mcg. Most doctors probably wouldn't prescribe the med for him. It used to be they started meds over tsh of 5.

I also have to say that we went too quickly trying to adjust my meds. I actually gained weight and had quite a bit of hair loss. My system was like,"Say what!?"
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